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Pork, Boiled Leg of

A leg of pork is seasoned with coarse sea salt, marinated, then boiled until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Pork, Boiled Leg of

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Choose a small, compact, well-filled leg of pork and rub it well with coarse sea salt.

  2. Let it remain in pickling for a week or ten days, turning and rubbing it every day.

Soak and cook

  1. An hour before cooking, soak it in cold water to improve the color.

  2. Place the pork in a pot with enough cold water to cover it.

  3. Gradually bring it to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  4. Simmer gently until tender, avoiding a fast boil to prevent the knuckle from falling apart.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Leg of pork
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and moist as it cooks slowly in water.
Coarse sea salt
Cures the meat during pickling, seasoning it and helping it hold moisture while it rests.

The step that matters

Simmer gently instead of boiling fast. A fast boil agitates the meat and toughens the outer fibers while the knuckle can break apart. A gentle simmer lets collagen slowly soften, so the pork becomes tender while staying intact.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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